Toy

ABSTRACT

A toy includes a main body and a chassis supporting the main body. The chassis includes a mounting board, two wheels rotatably mounted to the mounting board, and at least one elastic module fixed on the mounting board. The at least one elastic module and the two wheels are arranged on three vertexes of a triangle for elastically supporting the main body.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to toys, and particularly to atoy with two wheels.

2. Description of Related Art

Toys are generally provided with wheels or caterpillar tracks to move.Because wheels have advantages of flexibility and speed over caterpillartracks, wheels are widely used on the toy.

However, two-wheeled toys are unstable. For example, when a two-wheeledtoy comes into contact with an obstacle, the two-wheeled toy may flipover or may tilt on its side and be unable to move.

Therefore, a two-wheeled toy with high stability is desired.

Other advantages and novel features will become more apparent from thefollowing detailed description of exemplary embodiments when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toy in FIG. 1 with the outer bodyremoved.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the toy in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the toy in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the toy in FIG. 1 in accordance with asecond exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the toy in FIG. 5 inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

References will now be made to the drawings to describe exemplaryembodiments of a toy.

Referring to FIG. 1, a toy 400 includes a main body 300 and a chassis100. The chassis 100 is capable of supporting and mounting the main body300. In the exemplary embodiment, the main body 300 is detachablymounted to the chassis 100. In other embodiments, the main body 300 maybe integrally formed with the chassis 100. A motor (not shown) may bemounted on the chassis 100 to propel the chassis 100 together with themain body 300 to move along a first direction or a second direction. Thefirst direction may be a forward direction and the second direction maybe a backward direction.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the chassis 100 includes a mounting board10, two wheels 20, and at least one elastic module 30. The mountingboard 10 is configured for mounting the main body 400. The two wheels 20are coaxially mounted to the mounting board 10 and are substantiallyparallel to each other. The two wheels 20 are rotatable so as to drivethe toy 400 to move along the backward and forward directions. Theelastic module 30 is fixed under the mounting board 10 for selectivelyand elastically supporting the mounting board 10. The mounting board 10may be an independent part connected to a bottom surface of the mainbody 300. The mounting board 10 may also be integrated with the mainbody 300 and arranged as a bottom component of the main body 300.

Further referring to FIG. 4, the mounting board 10 defines two openings12 parallel with each other for rotatably receiving the two wheels 20.The mounting board 10 further includes two disk shaped fixing parts 11for fixing the elastic module 30. Two pairs of lugs 14 protrude from themounting board 10 and are adjacent to the two openings 12. Each of thepair of lugs 14 defines two pivot holes 17 for assembling acorresponding wheel 20 into a corresponding opening 12. The two fixingparts 11 are disposed on a surface opposite to the surface where themain body 300 is mounted. The two fixing parts 11 are arranged along aline substantially parallel to the moving direction of the wheels 20.Each fixing part 11 and the two openings 12 are arranged on threevertexes of a triangle respectively. Two columnar protrusions 15substantially extend from the centre of the two fixing parts 11. Twogrooves 13 are respectively defined around the circumference of thefixing parts 11, whereby two rings are formed.

Each of the two wheels 20 is equipped with two shafts 22 extending fromtwo sides of the wheel 20. The two shafts 22 are insertable through thetwo pivot holes 17 of the one pair of the lugs 14 correspondingly, so asto mount the wheel 20 to the one pair of the lugs 14 correspondingly. Assuch, the two wheels 20 are positioned and rotated in the two openings12 correspondingly. The diameter of the two wheels 20 are larger thanthe thickness of the mounting board 10, thus, the two wheels 20 extendout of the opposite sides of the mounting board 10 in the thicknessdirection of the mounting board 10, and upwardly support the main body400 loaded on the mounting board 10.

The two elastic modules 30 are respectively attached to the two fixingparts 11, so that each elastic module 30 and the two wheels 20 arerespectively arranged on the three vertexes of the triangle. When thetwo wheels 20 stand on a flat surface (not show), the height from theflat surface to the mounting board 10 is greater than the height of oneend of the elastic module 30, facing the flat surface, to the mountingboard 10. As a result, when the two wheels 20 stably support the mainbody 300, the two elastic modules 30 are not in contact with the flatsurface. When the two wheels 20 can't stably support the main body 300because of a weight of the main body 300, one of the elastic modules 30contacts the flat surface to elastically support the main body 300.Thus, the toy 400 is prevented from falling over by the three pointscontacting the flat surface.

Each of the elastic modules 30 includes an elastic element 32, atelescopic element 34, and supporting element 36. The telescopic element34 defines a through hole 340 extending from a first face to a secondface deviating from the first face of the telescopic element 34. Thesize and shape of the first face accommodates the groove 13. Thetelescopic element 34 is connected to the mounting board 10 by placingthe first face into the groove 13. The telescopic element 34 may also bea component which can be expanded and compressed under an externalforce.

The supporting element 36 includes a bottom 360 with a curved topsurface, and a sleeve 362 connected to the bottom 360 and deviating fromthe curved top surface. The sleeve 362 is inserted into the thought hole340 that the bottom 360 is tightly connected to the first face of thetelescopic element 34. The bottom 360 is made of hard material and thecurved surface is substantially smooth, thus the bottom 360 iswear-resistant and the surface friction coefficient is small.

The elastic element 32 is a coil spring, one end of the coil spring 32is attached to the protrusion 15, and the other end of the elasticelement 32 is received in the sleeve 362, the elastic element 32 thus isrestricted between the supporting element 36 and the mounting board 10.In other embodiments, the elastic element 32 may be an elastic piece oran elastic block.

When the elastic module 30 is pressed by or subject to an externalforce, the elastic element 32 and the telescopic element 34 arecompressed simultaneously and generate an elastic action on thesupporting element 36. When the external force is released, thetelescopic element 34 returns to the original state under the effect ofelasticity.

Referring FIGS. 5 and 6, a toy 200 in accordance with a second exemplaryembodiment is shown. The toy 200 is similar to the toy 400. A differencebetween the toy 200 and the toy 400 is that methods for assembling theelastic module 30 to the mounting board 10 are different. In the toy200, the fixing parts 11 of mounting board 10 define two guiding holes19. The elastic module 30 further includes a connecting element 31 withappropriate shape and size for accommodating the fixing part 11, and twoscrews 33. The connecting element 31 is stuck on one end of the elasticmodule 30 deviating from the supporting element 36. The connectingelement 31 defines two screw holes 35 corresponding to the two guidingholes 19. The center of connecting element 31 defines a center hole 37for restricting the coil spring 32. Each guiding hole 19 and each screwhole 35 are aligned to allow one of the screws 33 to insert therealong.The two screws 33 are respectively screwed into the screw holes 35 tosecure the elastic module 30 on the mounting board 30.

As described above, the toy employs an elastic module. The elasticmodule and the two wheels are arranged to locate at three vertexes of atriangle on the bottom of the toy. When the toy comes into contact withan obstacle or climb on a slope, the toy may tend to fall to the flatsurface along or opposite to the moving direction, the elastic modulewill contact the flat surface under the weight of the toy, thus the toycan be prevented from falling to the flat surface by employing theelastic module.

It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will beunderstood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent thatvarious changes may be made thereto without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its materialadvantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferredor exemplary embodiments of the invention.

1. A toy, comprising: a main body; and a chassis supporting the mainbody, the chassis comprising: a mounting board; two wheels rotatablymounted to the mounting board, the two wheels being capable of rotatingso as to drive the toy to move along a first direction; and a firstelastic module fixed on the mounting board and deviating from the mainbody, the first elastic module and the two wheels being separatelyarranged on the mounting board in such a manner to form a triangle, thefirst elastic module and the two wheels being located at three vertexesof the triangle; wherein the first elastic module is capable ofselectively and elastically supporting the main body, when the main bodyis stable, the main body is supported by the two wheels, when the mainbody is unstable, the main body is supported by the two wheels and thefirst elastic module, and the first elastic module is elasticallydeformed.
 2. The toy of claim 1, wherein the chassis further comprises asecond elastic module, the second elastic module is also fixed on themounting board, and the first and second elastic modules are arrangedalong a line substantially parallel to the first direction.
 3. The toyof claim 2, wherein when the two wheels stand on a flat surface, aheight from the flat surface to the mounting board is greater than theheight of one end of the elastic module, facing the flat surface, to themounting board.
 4. The toy of claim 2, wherein each of the first andsecond elastic modules comprises an elastic element with two oppositeends and a supporting element, one end of the elastic element isattached to the mounting board, and the other end of the elastic elementis connected to the supporting element.
 5. The toy of claim 4, whereinthe elastic element is a coil spring.
 6. The toy of claim 4, wherein abottom of the supporting element comprises a smooth curved surface, andthe bottom deviates from the mounting board.
 7. The toy of claim 4,wherein each of first and second elastic modules further comprises atelescopic element for receiving the elastic element, one end of thetelescopic element is connected to the mounting board, the other end ofthe telescopic element is connected to the supporting element, and thetelescopic element is deformable when the telescopic element is subjectto an external force, and returns to an original state when the externalforce is released.
 8. The toy of claim 7, wherein the telescopic elementis made of elastic material.
 9. The toy of claim 7, wherein thetelescopic element is stuck to the mounting board.
 10. The toy of claim7, wherein each of the first and second elastic modules furthercomprises a connecting element and screws, and the connecting element isconnected to the telescopic element and is fixed on the mounting boardvia the screws.
 11. A toy comprising: a main body; a mounting boardconnected to a bottom of the main body for loading the main body; twowheels rotatably assembled to the mounting board; and at least oneelastic module fixed on the mounting board and deviating from the mainbody, wherein the at least one elastic module and two wheels arearranged on vertexes of a triangle for elastically supporting the mainbody.
 12. The toy of claim 11, wherein the at least one elastic moduleis positioned between the two wheels.
 13. The toy of claim 11, whereinwhen the two wheels stand on a flat surface, a height from the flatsurface to the mounting board is greater than the height of one end ofthe at least one elastic module, facing the flat surface, to themounting board.
 14. The toy of claim 11, wherein the at least oneelastic module comprises an elastic element with two opposite ends and asupporting element, one end of the elastic element is attached to themounting board, and the other end of the elastic element is connected tothe supporting element.
 15. The toy of claim 14, wherein the elasticelement is a coil spring.
 16. The toy of claim 14, wherein a bottom ofthe supporting element is a smooth curved surface, and the bottomdeviates from the mounting board.
 17. The toy of claim 15, wherein theat least one elastic module further comprises a telescopic element forreceiving the elastic element, one end of the telescopic element isconnected to the mounting board, the other end of the telescopic elementis connected to the supporting element, and the telescopic element isdeformable when the telescopic element is subject to an external force,and returns to an original state when the external force is released.18. The toy of claim 15, wherein the telescopic element is made ofelastic material.
 19. A toy, comprising: a main body; a mounting boardconnected to the main body for loading the main body; a pair of wheelsrotatably mounted to the mounting board, the pair of wheels beingcapable of rotating so as to drive the toy to move along a backward andforward direction; and a first and second elastic modules, the first andsecond elastic modules being fixed to the mounting board for selectivelyand elastically supporting the mounting board; wherein when the toycontacts with an obstacle and is hindered to move along the backward andforward direction, one of the first and second elastic modules issubject to a downward force of the mounting board and the main body,such that one of the first and second elastic modules is elasticallydeformed to support the mounting board and the main body, thereby thetoy is prevented from falling over.
 20. The toy of claim 19, whereineach of the first and second elastic modules comprises: a coil spring;and a supporting element, the supporting element is fixed to themounting board, the coil spring is restricted between the supportingelement and the mounting board, when one of the first and second elasticmodules is subject to the downward force of the mounting board and themain body, the supporting element is deformed and the coil spring iscompressed to store a spring force, and when one of the first and secondelastic modules is released from the downward force of the mountingboard and the main body, the supporting element returns to its originalstate exerted by the spring force of the coil spring.